Sports

Stastny willing to grant Avs a discount

Colorado star has been center of trade talks

Avalanche center, left, Paul Stastny can become a free agent at the end of the season. (Karl Gehring / The Denver Post)

CHICAGO — After the Avalanche game-morning skate in the United Center Tuesday, Colorado center Paul Stastny patiently answered the same types of questions he has been hearing for days as today's 1 p.m. trading deadline approaches.

First, Stastny — whose $33-million, five-year contract is up after this season — emphasized he hadn't spoken with his agent, Matt Keator, in the previous 24 hours and didn't know anything new about where negotiations stood with the Avalanche.

Asked if he had been brought into contract discussions, Stastny said, "I stay out of it, unless something very important comes up. Like I said before..."

At that point, Stastny laughed and added, "I give the same answer because that's too much for me to think about. That's how I've always been. It's not just now. We've been together for 10-plus years, coming out of college, and my first couple of years. It keeps my mind at ease to not have to worry about it and just worry about on the ice."

Stastny added he "absolutely" would be willing to grant the Avalanche a discount. The trick there is how that's defined, especially since it's generally conceded that while he has played well as a two-way center doing a lot of the intangibles and is a major contributor to this team, his $6.6 million salary the past five seasons raised eyebrows.

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"Everybody knows how the business works," Stastny said. "You can obviously go somewhere and get more money somewhere else. But if you have something good and you want to stick with it, that hometown discount is obviously something that everyone's aware of and is important to do. You want both sides to be happy. You don't want to (mistreat) the team and you want the team to be put in a good situation where they can kind of compete down the road as well."

The Avalanche has a full front-office contingent on the road trip, which also includes a game Thursday at Detroit. The traveling party includes executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic, general manager Greg Sherman, assistant GM Craig Billington and vice president of hockey administration Charlotte Graham. The team is scheduled to practice in Detroit Wednesday, likely finishing just as the trade deadline is about to pass.

For his part, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy — also the team's vice president of hockey operations — Tuesday said he could live with the Avalanche standing pat.

"We need to be patient," Roy said. "Let's not forget. Twenty-ninth last year. We need to press on the right buttons. We have to make the right decisions. If there's something good for us, I'm sure Joe and I will look at it. If it's not, it's not, and we're very comfortable with our group. This is a very good group. This is a group that plays hard every night and they certainly deserve that opportunity as well."

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